Rent a Seat in the World’s Coolest Racing Simulator
The first-ever horizontal 200-degree wraparound spherical screen, plus an incredible 6 million pixel image. And it’s all inside an arcade room.
The most expensive publicly available racing simulators cost more than many racecars. The exquisite CXC Motion Pro II, for example, will run you over $81,000. Renting a racing sim, however, is much more economical, and nothing beats the new Motion Simulation Room in England.
The room, in an industrial estate outside London, houses six sphere-shaped TL3 simulators. The pilot occupies a seat inside the pod. These can be adjusted for the driving heights of Formula 1 cars, GT racers, racing sedans like British Touring Cars, and street cars like the Bentley Continental GT, and there are different force-feedback steering wheel setting to enhance the mimicry. The weight of the throttle and brake pedals varies depending on the in-game forces. The curved interior walls present a 200-degree wraparound screen—said to be a world-first for horizontal breadth—and a resolution of six million pixels. So lunacy, pretty much.
The TL3 runs world-class iRacing simulation software, meaning scads of car and multi-player options, famous circuits, and “obsessively realistic physics.” Its' all backed up by genuine physics: The seat can generate up to 2 g's of acceleration, and moves in three axes to recreate the heave, pitch and roll of a spin through the Karussell at the Nürburgring and trip into the Armco barriers.
You won’t need sponsorship to get a seat, just £15 for fifteen minutes of free-for-all practice sessions. Alternatively, a full premium race event—which includes consisting of “sign in,” a briefing, and fifteen minutes each of practice, qualifying, and racing—runs £60. That package also includes a “podium finish and a trophy ceremony for the winner,” but you actually have to win to get those.
If you end up liking it so much you want to take a TL3 home, Motion Simulation will sell you one for £34,995 (about $50,000) before options.